The future of software development and the role of human software engineers in it remains uncertain, with some possibilities including AI surpassing humans, plateauing productivity gains, and AI dramatically lowering production costs, allowing for highly specialized companies to profitably serve extremely niche markets. These changes could lead to a proliferation of smaller software companies tackling specific problems that are partially or not served by current software, similar to the emergence of indie film studios on YouTube or full-time Twitch streamers.